Mitchell Rolls is senior lecturer and co-director at the Riawunna, Centre for Aboriginal Studies, University of Tasmania, and he is also co-director of the interdisciplinary research centre at the Centre for Colonialism and Its Aftermath. Murray Johnson is a University Medal recipient from the University of Queensland. He has taught numerous undergraduate and postgraduate courses on Australian history at the University of Queensland, the Australian National University, and the University of Tasmania. He has also been involved in Aboriginal Native Title claims in Queensland.
This accessible, alphabetically organized dictionary manages to
impart a great deal of information on the Australian Aborigines in
relatively short entries. Topics include significant people;
places; cultural topics; and general categories as well as
political and activist organizations and political acts and
movements. Related entries are noted in bold within the body of the
entry, with see also information in capital letters at the end of
some entries. The volume begins with an informative introduction,
which is followed by a note on orthography, a list of acronyms and
abbreviations, and a detailed chronology. The bibliography, which
rounds out the dictionary, is lengthy enough to require a table of
contents and introduction. Arranged in rough subject groupings, it
lists books in 4 main areas ("Reference Works," "Ethnography and
Anthropology," "Thematic Works," and "Works by Indigenous
Writers"), which are then further subdivided into 22 more discrete
categories.
This readable, informative book provides an excellent starting
place for anyone seeking insight into the history of Australia's
indigenous population. More introductory and less narrowly focused
than The Oxford Companion to Aboriginal Art and Culture (2000),
this is a sound purchase for most college and university
collections.
*Booklist*
This reviewer would highly recommend this dictionary from the
series. It is a well-written history of the Aborigines that updates
their history through 2010.
*American Reference Books Annual*
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